Do 9-5 jobs still exist in the U.S.?

Submitted ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨GingeyBook@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

Ever since I graduated, everywhere I’ve worked has been 8-5. My current company is going to soon start expecting us to be in 7-5.

How many of you here work a 9-5 with a paid lunch?

Productivity keeps going up but so do working hours.

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SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Most high-skill jobs (e.g. software dev, engineering, research, teaching in university) are usually flexible with time. No one really cares when you come or go as long as you get the work done. People (read, good-for-nothing management people) are trying to make some of these more time-bound, but it’s usually counter-productive. Turns out when you want creativity from someone, you need to give them some freedom.

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BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
7? to goddamn 5? I’m not in at 7, and out way before 5, and if the boss don’t like it, then that’s not a me problem. 10 hours each day as in a 50 hour work week? That would be illegal in the EU, where you can’t work more than 48hours on average per week over a period of 4 months europa.eu/youreurope/business/…/indexamp_en.htm

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- IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Technically I come in at 7 and leave at 4:30, but it’s a 9 hour day (30 min unpaid lunch) and I get every other Friday off in exchange. Also most days I work from home. No way in heck I’d ever go in for something like that.
  
  OP, start job shopping. Longer hours are a sign the business isn’t doing all that well and they’re trying to squeeze out some more labor. Or a sign they’re doing well but are not interested in taking care of people by hiring enough staff and would rather you burn yourself out.
  
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partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I worked at one company that was 7am-5pm for corporate office work. The company grew from a small retail parts company decades ago, but never changed the mindset. So even the office work was treated like shift work. Office workers wouldn’t even check email before 7am. Many times just hanging out in the cafeteria until 7 on the dot when they had to be at their desks. Further as soon as 5pm hit exactly, all the office workers would drop what they were doing and walk out to the parking lot with all of the other blue collar shift workers.

This resulted in things like Purchase Orders getting delayed by a day because it arrived at the approver at 5:01pm and the approver was gone. There was nearly no weekend office work, which caused its own problems.

It was such a strange place to work.

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- Zorque@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  So... they knew the value of their own time and didn't overwork when they didn't have to?
  
  Most office workers could probably learn from that mindset.
  
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  - partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    So… they knew the value of their own time and didn’t overwork when they didn’t have to?
    
    This worked the other way NOT in favor of the workers. Sat down at your desk at 7:03am even though you’re not customer facing at all? Expect to be called into a conference room with your boss and your bosses boss about your attendance.
    
    Do you work in IT and need to work off-hours to perform work requiring downtime until 2am? You better be at your desk at 7am on the dot or you’re going to get written up.
    
    Have a doctors appointment at 3pm? You have to take PTO for that just like an hourly worker.
    
    There was this really odd notion that if you weren’t sitting in your chair typing, you weren’t working and would get questioned by bosses.
    
    Most office workers could probably learn from that mindset.
    
    Office workers would learn (or be reminded) about how hellish it was to work a minimum wage job with zero flexibility.
    
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  - grue@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    They were still having 2 hours/day stolen from them, though.
    
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- MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Strange that people only worked during the hours they’re paid to work?
  
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  - partial_accumen@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Salary workers aren’t generally paid for hours, but instead for the job.
    
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applepie@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

My current company is going to soon start expecting us to be in 7-5.

Before I start spazzing dignity and self respect.

Can you provide more context on how this was presented to you. Also your career stage? Junior?

As mid level, they can't really try too much of this or I will just reduce my productivity to bare minimum and change jobs. I dont negotiate with terrorists ;)

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- GingeyBook@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Newish into the workforce, junior role
  
  My current schedule allows me to work when I want, so long as I work 40 hours over the course of the week. I’ve settled into an 8-4 schedule and work while I eat.
  
  We are now switching to a condensed work schedule where every other Friday will be off.
  
  As a result we are expected to work 9 hour days (reasonable) but also required to take a 1 hour lunch away from our desk.
  
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  - Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, two four day weeks a month was some pretty big context to leave out.
    
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  - ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That sounds pretty dope honestly
    
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  - variants@possumpat.io ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That sounds similar to my work, as long as you work 40 hours a week they don’t really care when you come in, I usually try to be in the office by 6 so I can leave at 2:30
    
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  - NewWorldOverHere@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Do you prefer the shorter day and eating at your desk, or the longer day with the lunch break?
    
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  - tamal3@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m interviewing for a job that has a similar set-up: 8:30 - 5:30 with a required 1 hr lunch break. Any idea why that lunch is required?
    
    The hours are a red flag to me, but I’ve been a teacher for the last 6 years so I’m not sure exactly what I’m getting into. I have a 2nd interview coming up, but I can’t get a read on whether they’re trying to make sure I’m taking the job seriously, or if I’m headed into an abusive work situation. Any ideas?
    
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  - IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Will the other Friday be shorter, too? Because otherwise they’re getting an extra hour out of you every other week.
    
    I do this at my job (my choice). I do 7 to 4:30 with a half hour for lunch. I don’t actually take the lunch when I’m in the office since there’s no place other than my desk to be, and thankfully my supervisor is fine with me just leaving at 4. When I’m at home I try to actually be away from my office for that time.
    
    I do like 3 day weekends and when I’m WFH I don’t even notice the 9 hour days. Idk if I’d do it for a job I had to be in the office every day for, but hopefully it will work for you.
    
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grue@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you aren’t getting a paid lunch and two 15-minute breaks during your 8-hour shift, your employer is stealing from you.

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- tyrant@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’ve never had a paid lunch. 2 paid 15 min breaks and then unpaid lunch is the law where I am.
  
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  - janus2@lemmy.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    my dumbass state has no requirements for breaks at all. one of my jobs has no official breaks. we’ve all mastered the art of looking busy while eating 💀
    
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- Vorticity@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Unless you are salaried. Being salaried normally comes with flexibility but gives no guarantees for breaks and number of hours worked.
  
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  - grue@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That works both ways. If you’re salaried and find yourself averaging more than 40 hours a week, don’t.
    
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  - mxcory@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    There are two types of salary, exempt and non-exempt (from overtime pay). If I am remembering correctly, you basically have to be management to not get overtime pay. Something like being over at least 2 people and having input on major decisions. May have been more to it.
    
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ptz@dubvee.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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- ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Flex time was one of the best parts of working in government. Being able to craft basically any schedule so long as it was 40 hours and not more than 10/day was really useful.
  
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  - ptz@dubvee.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Flex time alone was worth the pay cut I took when I went corporate to non-profit. You can’t buy time, but flex time is the next best thing.
    
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Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I'm salaried so I don't have a lunch break. I work from home so I basically set my own hours as long as I can be contacted from about 10am to 3pm and go to any meetings I have scheduled.

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- 0110010001100010@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Same, it’s glorious. That said, on the other side of the coin during go-live weeks I’ve worked multiple days in a row until midnight or later. So it balances out in the end.
  
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  - Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah. There's always a chance that a customer could have an issue on a weekend and then I've gotta fix it. Once I was on 27 hours of conference calls over a weekend. But as I've gotten better at my job those sorts of things happen less and less.
    
    Honestly the worst part of my job is doing my timesheets and updating weekly status, but when the weather's good I do that from my hammock with a cold beer in hand which makes it suck less.
    
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  - Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    My company was more flexible, but is getting less and less flexible over time. This correspondingly means I’m not going to be working late during crunches, by my own decision, since it’s not like they’re paying me for the extra time, or letting me take off a few hours here and there to make up for it the rest of the year.
    
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Talaraine@fedia.io ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Don't think that exists anymore.

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themeatbridge@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Salaried employment exists, and there are more jobs out there than they want you to think. The employer-employee relationship is a constant negotiation, and you’re always free to walk away.

We don’t know how much time we have on earth, and you’re selling some of it in exchange for money.

They are going to keep pushing to get more of your life from you, and you need to push back to keep as much as possible.

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- DessertStorms@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  you’re always free to walk away.
  
  Yeah, and die of starvation or exposer, which ever comes first..
  Maybe instead of giving out of touch advice, take a look around at the reality most people face first..
  
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  - Screamium@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    If your choices are between working one specific job or starving then you owe it to yourself and your family to improve your marketable skills or value
    
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  - abbadon420@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    If you’re really only able to work for one particular, shitty company. You might want to invest in yourself. Learn a trade or read a self help book.
    
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  - themeatbridge@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Right, that’s the violence inherent in the system. I wasn’t giving advice, I’m saying that’s the only leverage you have. You’re selling the minutes and hours of your life, little chunks of being alive, and you’re selling it for less than it’s worth. You have to, because nobody would buy it if they weren’t profiting from you. It’s good for them if you believe you have no choice, especially when you do.
    
    My advice is always be applying for jobs. Or go into business for yourself, if you can manage it.
    
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jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Many of my jobs in software have been a sort of 10 to 6 schedule. Most of them have been pretty flexible about that so long as you attended all the required meetings and got your work done.

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- bitchkat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  For the past 10 years or so, companies have gotten rather fond of 8am meetings.
  
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Zerlyna@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I have never been 9-5 with paid lunch and I’ve been in corporate world since 1998. 8-5 with an unpaid hour.

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dandroid@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I have a 9-5 job as a software engineer. Though really I can stop working whenever I’m done with my assigned work. I usually stop around 3 or 3:30.

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- Phunter@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Same. I am available 9 - 5, but I tend to be actually working 10 - 4. It fluctuates depending on how badly management wants things. And of course there’s the rotating on call schedule where sometimes I have to wake up in the middle of the night to confirm that a service my team owns is impacted by some other service’s outage. FUN!
  
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3ntranced@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Was literally going to ask this same question last week. Past three employers are expecting 8-5 m-f but only pay 40 hours.

I’ve just been coming in at 6 before the boss to look like a hardworking then leave at 2 so I only work what I’m paid.

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- bitchkat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  That’s because you get a 1 hour lunch break. I would make sure to spend 60 minutes a day eating lunch.
  
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dan1101@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Sure, just depends on the business. Self-employed and small business are often much more flexible. I pretty much work 9:30 to 4:30.

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KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m on 9 to 4:30 with half an hour lunch. Or I could do anything from 6 - 1:30 to 9:30 - 5.
And yes, I get paid for a full time job.
Unions are awesome.

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dhork@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m fully remote, with no clock to punch, but with co-workers all over the world. I try to focus most of my hours between 9 and 5, but don’t sweat it too much because a few times a month I need to be on a call at 5 in the morning or 10 at night.

There is simply no good time to schedule meetings with someone 12 hours away.

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RadicalEagle@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I have a salaried work from home job with no defined working hours. As long as the work gets done within SLAs the hours me and my team work are irrelevant.

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Salix@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I didn’t even know paid lunch breaks were/are even a thing. Most jobs I’ve been in had 30 min unpaid lunch.

My current job, I work 9 to 6, with 1 hour unpaid lunch. I don’t really do anything during my lunch besides sit in the office wasting time for an hour.

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- Landless2029@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Back when i worked an office job this is why lots of people would just go sit in thier car during thier break.
  
  I started doing it to take a undisturbed nap. Also so people stop bothering me while I’m on break.
  
  My mouth is full of food and I’m chewing in the break room. Why the fuck are you here to talk to me about work…
  
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Hikermick@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
9 to 5 is just a phrase referencing a standard full time day shift job not about the specific statt/stop times

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Glitch@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I work in tech. Most people I work with pick their own hours but are in office during core hours (10-4), some (like me) will do a pretty strict 9-5, I’ve seen some do 6-6 (eew). There’s def a type of people who do more hours to try and get ahead or impress, but I don’t think it’s worth it.

I think if I ever worked somewhere with strict arrival or departure requirements I would leave. I’m an adult and work will get done, too much external control will strangle that.

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ccunning@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The only places I’ve worked that were that strict were positions providing 24h coverage and you had to be there to do turnover between shifts (I’ve don’t both 8h and 12h). Thankfully those jobs have been a minority of my career.

Mostly I’ve had broad flexibility where the company would declare “core hours” from say 10-3 and allow employees to flex 3 hours in either direction (anywhere from 7-3 to 10-6).

7-5 is bullshit.

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- cerement@slrpnk.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  7-5 might be acceptable only if you get 2 hrs off (ex. 7-11, siesta, 1-5)
  
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scoobford@lemmy.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
9-5 is definitely no longer standard, although traffic does get noticeably worse here after 8am.

That being said, what is their justification for 7-5? Unless you’re taking a 2 hour unpaid lunch, that’s mandatory overtime, which most companies aren’t super fond of paying.

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- pyre@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  they said the US so I’m assuming the company doesn’t really do anything properly and no one regulates it
  
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- myrrh@ttrpg.network ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  …overtime?..welcome to the world of exempt employees where anything less than 45 hours requires “voluntary” pay deductions…
  
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- Maggoty@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Lol. Overtime. In the US. Wage theft is the largest form of theft in the United States.
  
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Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My dad technically works 9 to 5 in the tech field for the government. It’s just that it’s 9-5 in a different time zone than the one he lives in (it’s a remote job).

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- JargonWagon@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This is the answer - Only salaried jobs are 9-5, otherwise you get an unpaid lunch which adds 30m-1h to the time range. These days, salaried jobs also try to exploit making you work outside of these time ranges…regularly.
  
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- BingBong@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Similar but only because I skip lunch
  
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Mango@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Naw, there’s only about 3 now. Being rich, being poor, and being a cop.

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Aermis@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Seattle electrician here. My schedule. Is 6-230 with a 30 minute unpaid lunch.

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- answersplease77@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Do you mean you’re available on-call from 6:00 to 2:30? 20 hrs a day is too much even to third-world country standards
  
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  - tamal3@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    2:30 pm or 14:30, that’s just an 8 hr day plus lunch.
    
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lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Can’t say for the US, but in NL, Europe, 9-6 with an hour mandatory break is the default for programming work. We hear the adults complain about 9-5 as students, we go to work, turns out its 8-5 or 9-6. Fuck.

Uneducated works tends to be 8.5 hours per day, instead of 9; only because half an hour breaks are the norm, there.

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CoolMatt@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not US, but Canada. I don’t work a desk job, but but drive around doing work out of a van full of tools, with ladders on top.

Most days I can do 6-2, 7-3, 8-4, 9-5, how ever I want… After 8 hrs I get over time. After 12 hrs is double time.

Lunch is paid.

Usually I set an alarm, either get up, or snooze a bit, and find myself on the job site sometime between 7 and 8 put in 8 hrs of work that day, and go home unless we get busy and something comes up, and the over time is there if I want it. I take it more often than not. It pays off come Christmas time as a pay bonus

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wasted_in_time@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Anyone discuss traffic?

For my area, traffic is a nightmare starting at 4pm thru 7.

Few get off at 5pm, but most head out the door at 3.

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- IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This is why work from home is so valuable to me. They don’t pay me well enough to have a commute under 45 mins because the cost of living in the city is high as heck. And there’s no public transit option. So basically that’s 1.5 hours a day that I’m not losing to being stupid traffic
  
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  - wasted_in_time@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Facts. Let’s not even get started with having to get ready for work. I work a hybrid schedule, prefer to rollout of bed to get my day started.
    
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Melkath@kbin.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Covid happened and gave me work from home.

The order to return to office happened and I said no.

In the back and forth, I defined my official schedule as 9 to 5.

Now, typically I work late a night or 2 a week so I start work a couple hours late/stop work a couple hours early a night or 2 a week.

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radix@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
9-5 and I work from home. Salaried, and in a department of one (me), so I do occasionally have to log in on a day off for a few minutes if something has a hard deadline.

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- doctordevice@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m also 9-5 salaried, hybrid with 1-2 days in office each week and the rest from home. It’s very nice.
  
  Salaried can be a double-edged sword. The occasional self-motivated “I actually really need to get this done” is no big deal, but some workplaces will pile work onto salaried workers with no respect for work-life balance. So you’re left with either not getting your work done and feeling stress because you can’t keep up, or regularly working extra hours for free so you feel stress because you don’t have enough personal time. What kind of job it is can depend really heavily on your direct supervisor and general workplace culture. I had to suffer through a few of the bad kind of salaries positions before I lucked into finding a good one.
  
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  - abbadon420@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I do get some extra load some times as a salried worker. It’s my first salaried job, so I don’t know if maybe I’m just lucky. Sometimes I work overtime to finish what I’v started, but compensate it the next day by starting an hour late. If the work becomes too much, i will try to work harder, but if that doesn’t fix it either, it’s possible to either extend the deadline or get extra help.
    
    It’s a total culture shock from my previous, hourly job, where I just had to always work more and more for the same hourly rate. They didn’t care that it took longer and they didn’t care for me as long as it got done, but I didn’t want to work more hours, I wanted to spend more time with my kids.
    
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